Melanie Smith

Mexico City is not only Melanie Smith’s city of residence, but the context and the source for much of her work. Smith explores the nuances of urban life, digging into the history of her adopted hometown using a variety of mediums, including video, photography, painting, and installation. Turning her camera to the streets and walls of Mexico's capital, Smith makes images that think deeply about place, carefully considering the socio-cultural and economic complexities of a city in flux, as well as critically examining modernity and its relationship to Latin America. Collaboration plays a crucial role in Smith’s practice, in particular her relationship with Rafael Ortega. Since 1997, they have worked in tandem on several film and video works, most notably Spiral City & Other Vicarious Pleasures (2002). Using the city’s gridded structure as guide, the video captures Mexico City from above, recalling both in content and title Robert Smithson’s 1970 film documenting his seminal earthwork Spiral Jetty. Smith has exhibited internationally at institutions including MoMA, MoMA PS1, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Boston's ICA, Tate Modern, and Tate Liverpool, among others. In 2011, she participated in the 54th Venice Biennale.